Want to Live Like a Deep-Space Colonist for a Year? NASA Will Pay You to Do It

If you’ve ever fancied spending up to a year away from your loved ones and living in extremely close confines with three other people, now’s your chance! NASA is looking for four recruits for a simulated year-long deep-space mission at the Johnson Space Center. Set to begin no later than August 2027, the Moon and Mars Exploration Analog mission will simulate interplanetary travel and on-surface planetary missions.

Surviving in space is hard, so to make it as safe as possible, simulations and trial runs are a necessity. With that in mind, NASA is looking to run four individuals through a 12-month period of testing deep-space travel and Mars and Moon surface missions in a realistic environment.

The four chosen participants will live for a year inside two habitats, allowing them to experience the confines of a deep-space capsule and a Mars-like colony. It can’t simulate changes in gravity, but participants will eat the same food, breathe the same air, and experience the same cramped conditions as the astronauts who may make these journeys in the years to come.

NASA trainee conducting augmented reality tests in a simulated environment.
Credit: NASA

This mission is the first in a series of ground-based environmental tests that NASA is planning to conduct, combining elements of its HERA (Human Exploration Research Analog) and CHAPEA (Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog) missions into a single campaign.

Different platforms will be trialed as part of the study, including a transit vehicle made up of two stories and four capsules connected together. It has a workspace, living area, sleeping quarters, and a hygiene module, all shared by the four-person crew.

The surface habitat is larger, but only a single story tall, with 3D-printed materials holding out the emulated Martian atmosphere or Lunar vacuum. It includes a recreation room, communal workspace, crop cultivation area, medical room, food prep area, airlock, two bathrooms, and a sandbox for simulated space walks.

NASA’s simulated Martian surface.
Credit: NASA

Interested in applying? You’ll need to be a US citizen or green card holder, aged between 30 and 55, no more than 6’2″, and ready and willing to participate in the mission for a total of 14 months—12 of which you’ll be confined to the habitats.

Oh, and you also need to have “astronaut-like qualifications.” So you’ll need to have a degree (ideally a PhD), extensive STEM experience, and/or military experience.

You can find more details here.